The present invention relates to a side air bag that protects the region from the head to the torso of a passenger. In the side air bag of the present invention, a front and back cloth body is bonded at the edges to form a bag. The air bag emerges from an air bag device disposed on a seat back and expands between a seat and a side door to protect an occupant especially in the event of a side impact.
Conventional responses to so-called "side collisions" have involved disposing an air bag device on the back of the front seat. A front side air bag is expanded from the air bag device via an injection of pressurized fluid that takes place when an inflator is activated. The front side air bag expands between the front seat and the front side door to protect the region from the torso to the head of the passenger.
In these front side air bags, it is necessary for the expanded air bag to avoid the shoulder seatbelt, which extends from the upper portion of the center pillar of the vehicle body, past the shoulder of the passenger, and to a lower position toward the center of the vehicle body. Furthermore, the distance between the front side door and the passenger is not uniform, i.e., the distance between the torso of the passenger and the front side door is different from the distance between the head of the passenger and the front side door.